ANC top brass to woo KZN minority voters

Durban - The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has brought in the big guns, President Jacob Zuma and his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa, to lure minority communities to vote for the party.

ANC provincial secretary Sihle Zikalala said in Durban on Thursday that Ramaphosa would be canvassing white support at the View Boutique Hotel in Amanzimtoti this weekend while, next week,

Zuma would be in Wentworth targeting coloured and Indian voters.

Other party bigwigs expected in the province were treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize, national chairwoman Baleka Mbethe and deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte.

“These campaigns and engagement with different communities will undoubtedly increase our prospect of achieving an overwhelming victory,” Zikalala said.

Unlike in African communities, where concerns were based on lack of water, houses, schools and electricity, whites were mostly concerned with discrimination brought about by transformation, uncut verges and potholes, he said.

He said Indians were mostly concerned about the quota system at tertiary institutions.

He said as a result of the recruitment of 45 new white members in Amanzimtoti, Ramaphosa was visiting the area to prepare for the launch of an ANC special branch, where there were fewer than 100 members.

“We were there (in Amanzimtoti) with our white comrades engaging on policies of the ANC and it was very nice. We are going back to them and this time they will be more than 45,” he said.

He said the party was aware that minority communities were concerned about Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s Nkandla report. He said it would be easy to respond to the report since it had exonerated Zuma from any act of corruption.

He said the ANC would be unhappy to win a majority if a large number of eligible voters did not vote.

He also said the party had conducted an informal election survey, which revealed its members and supporters, who were unhappy with service delivery, would rather withhold their votes than vote for opposition parties.